1. World first: Validated public testing set to increase pressure for ban on glyphosate

The Feed The World project launched Thursday with a world first, unique glyphosate test for the general public. The project with specific focus on women and children in the U.S. is offering the first ever validated public LC/MS/MS glyphosate testing for urine, water and soon breast milk. This could lead to a ban on the sale and use of glyphosate, the world’s number one herbicide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announcement in March shocked the global biotech (GMO) industry by classifying their most profitable chemical – glyphosate – as a “probable human carcinogen”.

Henry Rowlands, Director of Feed The World stated Thursday:

“Glyphosate is the backbone of our current agricultural system that supplies us with toxic food, water and air. We aim to ban glyphosate by allowing the public to inform themselves about what levels of glyphosate are found in their own and their family’s bodies. Feed The World will also give a platform to profitable, agriculture alternatives that allow farmers, businesses and governments to change direction towards a better non-toxic future for our children.”

The validated glyphosate testing method sponsored by Feed The World will allow the general public to find out with certainty what levels of glyphosate are found in their bodies and in their tap water.

Previous small-scale pilot studies completed in 2014 showed that glyphosate is found in American women’s breast milk, urine and drinking water, but due to the ELISA testing method used in these tests the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other government regulators were able to ignore the results. Feed The World has commissioned and sponsored a new validated LC/MS/MS testing method which will increase the pressure on the EPA and other regulators to take serious action on glyphosate-based herbicides, and eventually ban glyphosate.

Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar, member of the House of Lords in the UK, stated:

"It is to the women of the world that we must turn if future generations are to be able to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Glyphosate is known to probably cause cancers and other life threatening medical conditions and yet it is to be found everywhere. As individuals we cannot know whether or not we or our children are affected. This remarkable project will enable the women of the world to discover whether glyphosate is in our bodies or water supply; to learn how to avoid further exposures and, finally, to join together to show that we will no longer tolerate glyphosate in our food, water, air."

Award-winning U.S documentary Director Ed Brown, who will be covering the Feed The World project from start to end said:

“You cannot look back or dismiss this information once you have learned it. To understand that this chemical could be found in almost every single person on this planet, and that it is a probable carcinogen makes this the single most important story of our time. That's why I have chosen to help tell it to the world, because it is the fate of our entire human race that is on the line.”

NGOs and mother bloggers from across the U.S. including the Organic Consumers Association and Mamavation have already signed up to promote the testing.

The Feed The World project also includes a Women and Children’s Bill of Rights that will be presented to the U.S. Senate in October calling for a phasing-out and total ban on the sales of glyphosate-based herbicides before the end of 2018.

The creation of and validation process for the glyphosate testing method as well as the public testing for urine and water is performed by a very highly regarded laboratory in USA, whose identity will remain confidential until later in 2015, when they will publish the full method paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The public breast milk testing will also begin later in 2015.

Dr. Paul Winchester, Clinical Professor at the Division of Neonatology, Indiana University School of Medicine and the Director of the neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) at St. Francis Hospital stated:

“Brave and concerned citizens will have to act if the real extent of pesticide contamination is to be known. We are being offered a chance to test ourselves for the most heavily used weed-killer in the history of mankind. RoundUp (Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide) is used to both kill weeds but also to desiccate crops prior to harvest. It is found in ground water, river water, rain, snow, soil, and food and the levels are rising. Is RoundUp in you? Is it in your baby? Is this weed killer imprinting our descendants’ DNA? These are the questions we hope you will help to answer. EPA won’t do it. Government won’t do it. Chemical companies won’t do it. Farmers won’t do it. Our Grocers won’t do it. If we don’t pee into a cup and pay for the analysis no one will. I hope you will help us find out the truth.”

The expected reaction to the project from the industry that produces glyphosate-based herbicides is that the levels found in humans are ‘safe’. However, Feed The World has provided a very clear information database(8) that identifies the many health and environmental dangers related to glyphosate, including evidence that glyphosate doses considered “safe” by industry and government regulators, have now been demonstrated to be “toxic”.

Dr. Michael Antoniou, Molecular Geneticist, London concluded:

“With increasing evidence that glyphosate may be toxic at very low doses through mechanisms such as disruption of endocrine (hormone) systems that in turn can lead to serious illness in all age groups, it is becoming ever more imperative to obtain wide-scale information on the levels of this substance in the human population at large.”—

2. Advocacy group offers U.S. testing for herbicide feared linked to cancer

An advocacy group seeking a ban on the world's most widely used herbicide said Wednesday it is launching a U.S. public testing project to gather data on detectable levels of the herbicide in drinking water, human urine and breast milk.

The project, backed in part by organic organizations and critics of genetically modified crops, is the latest move in a brewing battle pitting agribusiness interests against consumer and environmental groups over the fate of the weed-killer called glyphosate.

Feed the World, the group behind the effort, is offering test kits that can be ordered for $119 each on its website, feedtheworld.info/, and sent to a central laboratory for processing.

Director Henry Rowlands said the group is providing validated testing that meets regulatory standards. The results are to be used to pressure regulators and lawmakers to limit and eventually ban glyphosate, he said.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide sold by Monsanto Co and is found in hundreds of products sold worldwide by many companies. It was first registered for use in the United States in 1974 and has long been considered safe by U.S. and many foreign regulatory bodies. It is widely used on crops, lawns, gardens and golf courses.

But some scientific studies have linked it to health problems, and last month a research unit of the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord said all labeled uses of glyphosate are safe and had no further comment about the Feed the World Project.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is concluding an extended review of glyphosate and has said it will issue a preliminary risk assessment for public comment later this year. The agency has the power to ban the herbicide, impose new limits on its use or keep current rules in place.

The U.S. government does not test for glyphosate residues in foods, though it does test for other pesticide residues. But a number of organizations have been sampling foods, urine and breast milk themselves, to try to determine the pervasiveness of glyphosate residues.

Glyphosate is used on corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other crops genetically altered to withstand it. It is also used by farmers growing wheat, oats and other crops. Its use has surged with the advancement of genetically engineered crops.